Just a short drabble for Katie (Calixa Inflixa).
Incidental Gooseberry
Lily Evans paused to brush a loose lock of hair from her eyes. She was tired, covered from head to foot in both sweat and grime, and her wand was poking painfully into her side. But after giving herself one more moment to catch her breath, Lily gritted her teeth and pressed on.
Stretching her arms out before her, Lily pulled and wriggled her way through the tight space. Her heart pounded loudly, as suddenly the wooden walls around her shuddered violently. Then finally, finally, she felt the cold touch of fresh air on her skin, and she blinked owlishly at the bright square of daylight opening up before her.
She was just trying to force her body to bend in impossible ways in order to free herself, when suddenly a saving hand came into view. Lily gratefully reached out, and allowed its owner to curl his fingers around her arm, and wrestle her awkwardly out into the light.
Lily smiled sheepishly as her free hand flew to smooth down her school robes, and loosen the stranglehold of her tightly wound, red-and-gold trimmed scarf. She glanced back at the yellow and black clad students, bouncing up and down on the benches of the Hufflepuff stands, before returning her gaze to her sallow saviour.
He was similarly dishevelled, and, even though he sported the green and silver stripes of a Slytherin, he stood in the aisle before the blue sea of the Ravenclaw stands. His hair fell in oily clumps around his face, his bloodless lips were pressed into a shy, cautious smile, and his black eyes bore into her as if he was trying to figure out an unfathomable problem.
They'd discovered long ago that, although it was quite a feat, this was the only safe place to meet -- during Quidditch matches, on the opposite side of the stadium to their own adjacent House stands. It was as if their housemates could sense the dissention in their midst if they met in the vicinity of either of them. But here, amidst the crowds of the other Houses, they could go mostly unnoticed.
Lily moved closer to the tall Slytherin, and brushed back a lanky lock of black hair to hook it behind his crooked ear. But when she leaned in even closer, the crowds around them suddenly erupted into a fit of cheers. Lily glanced in the direction of the pitch, to see James Potter whizzing around it, proudly holding a glittering Snitch aloft.
Lily stifled an ironic laugh. It was almost as if he'd known that she'd just crawled all the way here -- under the dangerously creaking benches, through dirt, dust and cobwebs -- and had waited until the very last second, before properly spoiling the long-awaited moment. It was something he'd always tried so hard to do on every other day, at every other time, and now he'd managed it flawlessly.
Shaking her head, Lily ignored the rabble around her and kissed Severus Snape fully, for as long as she dared. She smiled ruefully up at him, shrugged and turned to make her way back.